beckmt

Problem was with the starting pitching and the number of short starts Twins are getting. That is why you carry 13 pitchers. Fix the starting pitching and many of the problems here go away. We all wish Arcia well, but he could well make Sano look like a good outfielder, so to me he is DH only and did not hit well enough to fill the spot. Would rather take a shot with Park(after giving him a month or two in Rochester to get his confidence back), than with Arcia.

Do not agree with everything here, but idea is sound. Twins have a bunch of #2 - #4 type starters coming, so the only lack is either a shutdown bullpen(I do not have as much confidence in this area to be in the Twins minors) or a true #1 starter. Just remember those start at about $200 million and go up. Twins should have the flexability with many of the young players to be 2 -3 years away from arbitration, so the time to strike would be in the next 2 years.

No you trade him for an A+ or A player who has a bigger upside. There is no reason to trade Nunez without this type of return.

You can get value only for players that are wanted. That is why Nunez should be traded(value = cheap(more clubs in play)), can play multiple positions(great for the versatility advocates), and playing well. Should be able to get a decent prospect for him(maybe as much as a B or B-)

Park will probably be sent to Rochester until the logjam clears. Park also needs to regain confidence so this would be best. Problem with the Twins is pitching. This club would be under .500, but not buried if the pitching was average and not horrible. Most of the pitching reenforcements are coming in about 2018, so bridge is needed until then. Nolasco would probably fit with a National league club(Twins might have to pick up salary to move him.) Hughes is untradeable. Santana may be moved(and probably should be for the right offer). Abad should be traded if offer is good(I believe there will be more than one club bidding on him). Dozier and Plouffe need to be traded to clear room for younger player and salary space. One major error TR has made is to not spend money on mid level pitchers, but to buy an ace. But the ace has to be under 29 or you are just getting their decline years. The older ones should have other assets(like knowing how to pitch so it isn't all stuff they are using to get by). Otherwise trade for one and hope you do not give up the wrong assets. Twins have about 10 pitchers who could become major leaguers(and not nearly as many hitters). The 10 are starters, this does not include the relief staff of which there are 4-7, based on writeups. If you clear salary, Twins will have plenty of money to buy a great pitcher or two in the next couple of years. Do not know TV/radio contracts, but when those can be sold will also factor into this. Twins will not have to spend major money on hitters types until the early 2020 decade so the window is hear to reboot this club. Please notice that most of the clubs leading the divisions in the AL have either great or deep starting pitching or a lockdown bullpen. That is what is going to win most of the time.

Tampa is short on outfielders at the present time. They should be able to give Arcia a couple of month look. We will see at that time how this is. Good luck to him.

I would have moved Dozier last winter. Polanco needs to play up here at least next year, so if not this year this winter. Hopefully Dozier will have a great second half, so have some great value. Yankees are talking about going both ways so Dozier might be a fit there. For the time being you can move Park to Rochester until July 31 and hopefully the logjam plays itself out.

Believe the Mets are looking Valencia, Plouffe is probably plan B or C, unless you can add a player or two to help convince them the Twins deal is better.

I agree with the fact that either Dozier or Polanco needs to be moved. Nunez also needs to be moved if a decent return can be found. Depends on what you can get. Maybe you could package 2 - 3 players to the Mets for one of their young pitchers, do not think the Mets will do this, but if they cannot get Valencia, then anthing is possible. Agree with Brock and I posted the same thing in another thread, 4 is the magic number, anything less is a fail.

Plouffe should be traded, Abad should be traded, at least one other bullpen piece should be traded(Jepson is the likely candidate), and one or two of the starters will be needed elsewhere. I would also take a decent offer for Dozier. That should give me enough room.

Twins may have to be more careful how they handle Latin players. Do not know if Arcia will succeed or fail, but do not want to get the reputation as a place Latin players do not want to be. I do not know how tight the Latin players are, but if they are tight this could be an issue. Very insightful article, also on makeup of Arcia. This was more of a sudden use of a chance by Grossman and we will see if he maintains this in about 2 months. My guess is that by that time he will be a 4th outfielder, though better than most the Twins have had the past few years.

Liriano netted Escobar, so was a win or a wash, Span netted Meyer, looks like this may not work out, but it looked OK at the time. Willingham had one great year and was expected to be a placeholder until the younger player arrived. Outside of Morneau and Perkins who was local, rest were worth very little. Willingham was probably an error not to trade, but he was the only Twins player hitting the ball, it would have made it worse than it was. You seen to forget the fans who will abandon the team until they win again, except it would have started years earlier. So why not mention, just let Mauer walk and reallocate that money elsewhere. Very 20/20 hindsight, subjective comments.

If you read the number of victories the Twins expected this year, most publications (except Fangraphs which had the Twins at 72) where between 78-85. That is the raised expectations.

Most of the Twins players 4 years ago had less value than the Twins players have now. You cannot sell if there are no buyers.

At that time they were a long ways away, and no pitching help in sight. Gibson would be a fourth or fifth starter on most good clubs unless you were in the Royal mode of cheap starters and a lights out bullpen. To be competitive the Twins would have to have bought 3 front line starters. Bill Smith lost his job over recommending the Twins up payroll into the $130 million range. Ryan did not have that budget. The difference was buying midrange starters, rather than ace or aces. Twins will have to develop those, and they may be coming, but results are still out and it may be two years before we know how successful this was.

There was no farm system to rebuild from 4 years ago. That was the legacy of the Bill Smith era. (with Gardy's help). It has taken this long and the Twins have been forced with half measures to keep the fan base as much as they have. It will be interesting to see how many players are moved this trading deadline and I (like most) will be disappointed if it is less than 4).

Last year upped the expectations, probably because of good years from some parts, who played way above their expectations(read Jepson). Now we have to be in full rebuild mode, but most of you would just give assets away, rather that get some value. That is how good clubs remain good and bad clubs remain bad, by picking up useful assets from bad clubs for almost nothing or less than nothing(lottery tickets with bad numbers)

Most agents will take the money. This will depend on how Sano feels about the Twins 3 years from now. That is when you make the decision, or when his agent tells you he will in no way resign here.

When Sano comes back, I expect Park or Buxton to go to AAA. Actually probably both should go for a month or two and Rosario comes back up. That clears up the logjams and it will fix itself if Plouffe is traded, just do not think that will happen until the trading deadline. Expect the young players to struggle for a year or two, they did in the late 1990's and both the Royals and Boston's young player struggled for a year or two. Patience everyone.

This could be wrong, but Arcia was not a fit here. I am more disappointed in Molly as the manager than the front office. TR is not going to tell Molitor who to play and how often, so this is the result. Future needs to be here and playing, so trades and player movement is to be expected. This could turn out wrong, but if Molly was not going to use him, what was to be done. He may clear waviers(Doubt it, but possible). Bet he is claimed and probably on waivers in another week or two to send to AAA. Don't see the love here.

Arcia is a DH type only. He was given chances to play the outfield and was horrible to say the least. This is not a defense of the FO, but just a viewpoint. He could not be trusted to hold down an outfield spot. Park at least takes walks and I believe will adjust to be a major league DH, plus he is a decent first baseman. Twins need players in the field to make the plays, Arcia could not and he is not Sano. Hope Plouffe will hit enough in the next month to make himself tradeable and Sano can play third. Young players will make errors, in this year they need to be played at a major league level.

And even Nolasco would not be that bad if not for Molitor not taking him out when he was out of gas in a couple of games. The 6th and 7th innings have been brutal for him, and not being ready for it speaks of bad management.

Contenders will have injuries/issues in the next month. A few of the Twins veterans will be traded during that time(hopefully). You just cannot give assets away.

Shutdown bullpen was the new part designed by the Royals. Other bullpens have been good,but not great at least since Cinncinatti in the 70's. It can work, but needs decent,but not great starters, and a good offense to get leads, with very good defense. Tough to get that together at one time. It will take a couple to three years to see what this run has cost the Royals, guess is that after a time(2-4) years they will get old and go back to the bottom. Tigers are heading there now.

TR is good at getting A+ guys that turn out to have value. Give it some time.